Sivananda World News: The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashrams

Om Namah Sivaya, Greetings from the Headquarters.
In early May we had a fairly quiet week in which staff got to relax a bit and get the outdoors projects moving as we slowly head to the summer. We were busy though as we had 3 simultaneous programs happening. We had our spring Sweat Lodge Weekend led by Pierre and Gita, which has become very popular over the years, attracting a group of 23 participants on the Saturday and another 28 on Sunday. Apart from the ceremony itself, Pierre spoke about the meaning of the ritual and some of the symbols related to it on the Friday evening Satsang and Gita gave more information and practical aspects of it on the Saturday, both being appreciated by all. Sushila came from the Montreal Centre and brought some teachers, karma yogis and students to enjoy the Spring ‘Montreal Weekend’ of retreat at the Ashram. The group enjoyed classes, workshops, the visit to the Subramanya Temple. The adults could enjoy the afternoon classes as the kids had their own program with Yamuna, who also came to support the event. To add to the Retreat Weekend, Arjuna came from Aylmer with some of his students from the Centre to run a retreat themed Karma and Reincarnation. Arjuna held the Satsangs for the group in Samadhi Estates, which made the small group happy and peaceful. Taking advantage of the Montreal and Aylmer groups, some of the staff joined them for the cleaning of the dormitories, that are now not only clean but all set and ready to use. Lots of outdoors cleaning also took place. The Camp looked greener and full of life.

During mid-May Ashram life was very busy for all the staff. The construction crew dismantled the Kids Camp platform area and nearby cabin, in order to extend the platform and build a new roof. Juan and his team located themselves at the airfield, welding the metal structures needed for the roof. Lalitha Chaitanya was with us for a week, conducting a workshop program on Bhakti and Kirtan. Her presence and devotion was very uplifting for the staff. One Tuesday night all the staff and guests went up to the Subramanya Temple to do Devi chanting. We have been doing this quite often and now most of the staff are familiar with the Lalita Sahasranamam and Mahisasuramardini Strotram. Swami Shivabhaktananda and Vyasa left to India. They will be going up to Vishnu peak to deposit the ‘Om Namo Narayanaya’ Likita Japa in the bank and spend some time in Swamiji’s cave. Lakshmi (Isabella) gave many workshops on raw food,
attended by 3 guests, who were very happy with the workshops as they were small and interactive. Lalitha Chaitanya travelled to the Montreal Centre where she gave Satsang. We wish her well and hope to see her again soon! Meanwhile, the staff were busy working on the grounds, housekeeping and guest programs. We concentrated on our Sadhana, serving Swamiji’s mission and the guests, as always. We hope everyone is doing well. Pranams to all! Om Namo Narayanaya to all Sivananda Staff from the Yoga Camp.

http://www.sivananda.org/camp

Namah Sivaya to all. At the beginning of May the Ashram was resonating with the energy of children at the annual Kids Camp. The kids enjoyed a 2 day Kanyakumari trip and a high energy Talent Show. Yoga Vacationers have graciously accepted being in second place giving up the two main halls to the kids. Nevertheless, we continued to have beginners, intermediate and gentle yoga classes for the vacationers. New teachers also kept up daily practice teaching classes with feedback from the more senior staff. The improvements in teaching technique was readily noticeable. We bid adieu to Bheeshma, with thanks for his service, especially to sort out our computer issues. We said hello to Yogeswara Miglesh who returned to be staff for 1 year.

During mid-May the atmosphere has noticeably quietened after the busy-ness of Kids Camp. Yoga Vacation classes have continued with good strength. Staff have augmented their Sadhana with at least half an hour of daily Om Namo Narayanaya chanting in the Narayana Hall. The teachers’ practice classes continued daily with teaching practice and how to do asana adjustments. We held the 59th Ayurveda Medical Camp with 810 patients seen. The monthly Ailyam Puja and Pongal was performed at the lakeside temple by Ramachandra ji. Swami Rajeshwariananda ji was admitted to hospital for 5 days due to a chest infection. She returned to the Ashram but still feeling weak. Pradeep has transferred to Chennai Centre. Pranams & Om Namah Sivaya from all staff at Neyyar Dam.

http://www.sivananda.org/neyyardam

Om Namo Narayanaya – Greetings from Uttar Kashi. The Temple of Siva has been completed with the inaugural ceremonies. Installation Festival – Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev Temple, Sivananda Kutir, Nettle, 27th April – 3rd May, 2015

Loving greetings from Sivananda Kutir, Netala. It has been a month of tremendous energy and activity at the Ashram with TTC going on alongside the preparations for the Installation Festival of our newly constructed Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev Temple.

On the morning of 27th April, the auspicious Installation festival began with a Puja conducted by 4 priests from Kerala and 4 local brahmins. Over the next 7 days, countless Pujas and fire rituals were offered both inside and outside the temple throughout the days and evenings. A temporary Puja area (Puja mandabham) was constructed in front of the temple in the dining hall. This was decorated very
beautifully with plants, banana trees, temple umbrellas (muthukuda), fresh marigold garlands and flowers throughout. Here the priests prepared beautiful mandalas and offered various rituals in preparation for the installation. The Ashram was colourfully decorated throughout with beautiful lights and festival decorations. The new temple was
completely decorated with hundreds of fresh marigold garlands.

On 1st May Srinivasanji, Prahladji and visiting staff from our Ashrams and Centres in India arrived for the installation festival. We also were very honoured to receive guests from south India – Mr & Mrs Mamallan from Trivandrum, Dr Narayanaswami and his wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandaughter from Madurai, Mr Ananta Krishnan and Lalitha amma from Palakkad, Vishnu from Toronto and Durairaj from Chennai. That evening our TTC concluded with a beautiful graduation Satsang led by Prahladji. The energy was very high as students were not only graduating but excited about the temple program and visit from senior teachers. Srinivasanji gave an inspirational talk to our new graduates, inspiring them about Swamiji and their role as yoga teachers. Many of the TTC students
stayed after the course to participate in the Installation festival.

The following morning the priests conducted a Ganapati Homam, sanskrit mantras were recited and kirtans were sang as the rituals were carried out. We invited the local village Devata (goddess) from both Siror village and Netala village who came to the Ashram later in the morning and offered Puja to Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev. The Ashram donated beautiful colourful temple umbrellas (muthukuda) from south India to
each Devata. Pujas continued to be offered throughout the day and a very special Puja concluded with a mother cow and her calf being led to to the temple to have darshan of Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev. Bells were ringing, conches blowing and traditional temple music was being played for the pleasure of Lord Siva and for the whole village to hear!

The Ashram soon became very busy when more than 100 sadhus from the local area arrived including Sw.Janardananda, Sw. Hari omananda and Sw. Govindananda. In the Satsang hall all sadhus sat and chanted Rama Namam, Bhajans and concluded with arati. This followed with an evening Bhandara and an offering of dakshina to each sadhu. The evening concluded with more Pujas, uplifting kirtans to Lord Siva
and the Lalitha Sahasranama in the temple.

On the final auspicious day of the Installation Festival, the priests conducted a Ganapati Homam while Prahladji led the daily chants followed by kirtan. Then the final Pranapratishta ceremony took place. Prahladji and the priests all rolled up their dhoti’s and climbed up the scaffolding to the top of the temple to offer Kalasa Puja. Flowers and water prasad were showered upon all devotees. The sounds of Om Namah Sivaya, bells and Panchavadyam music filled the air as the final Pujas took place. We were all in awe of the beautiful vision of Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev as he stood beautifully garlanded
and dressed with an elegant silver face. The final offerings were made and this concluded with a Bhandara for all. Again more than 100 sadhus came for the Bhandara.
along with local brahmins from both Siror and Netala villages. All were offered a meal, sweets and dakshina. The Bhandara continued throughout the day with many local people attending including men, women and a large group of local children. Also many of our local suppliers and shopkeepers from Uttar Kashi attended. The local community were very happy with the temple and the Installation festival. Each person was offered a box of ladus as prasadam. Mr Yadav an Inspector General from the army, his wife and security guards also attended the program and he has now expressed an interest in Yoga being taught to the army. The evening concluded with final arati and Puja.

On the morning of the 4th, Srinivasanji, Prahladji and our special guests all left for Delhi and to continue with their onward journeys. We are very grateful for their presence and blessings during the event. The priests, Mr Mamallan, Dr Narayanswami and family all went for a pilgrimage to Gangotri.

Overall it was a very auspicious event for all with high energy, beautiful rituals and being overlooked by the majestic Himalayas with Mother Ganga at our side in Swamiji’s Mahasamadhi place. We were blessed with the association of senior staff, special guests, priests, sadhus and the local community making it a very special event indeed.
Now the scaffolding has come down the beauty of the colourful south Indian temple can be seen soaring high for all to see. Many local people are now stopping on the bridge to offer their prayers and see the beautiful addition to the village. The temple is now open daily from 6.30am to 12 noon and 4 – 6.30pm for the public to have darshan.

Om Namah Sivaya! Sri Akhandeswara Mahadeva Swamine Namaha! Pranams to all.

http://www.sivananda.org/uttarkashi

Om Namo Narayanaya. Pranams from Madurai. In early May the Mango Showers continued, after a bout of severe hot weather. The showers drenched the entire locale strong enough to restore the climatic balance. All summer fruits grew, especially the sweet jack fruit. Ashram mangoes were ready to ripen and our guests were eagerly waiting for the mango party! Coincidentally, in a meeting regarding landscaping, Ravi Sri discussed the possibility of implementing two interesting proposals for the Ashram: a native practice of firewood cooking thereby recycling the cut trees and secondly, a group staff karma yoga working in the garden; both of which have already been initiated. We started with cooking rice in firewood in addition to the already existing practice of boiling the herbal water. Our staff team began to help with land preparation for the future vegetable garden. A Tuesday staff picnic was arranged to Kodaikanal. We spent few hours at the hill station – cycling, boating, trekking and of course eating good food especially the Kodaikanal’s famous ‘cream doughnut’. The yoga vacationers expressed their wish to experience a typical yogic diet and also an exposure to cooking Indian cuisine. Hence, they were served zero salt kichadi and par boiled vegetables along with large servings of fruit salad. The same day a cooking workshop was organized in the kitchen where they enjoyed making dosas. Our Karma yogi, Mehana left for her native town. Natarajji, from Neyyar Dam, made a brief visit along with Ravi Sri. It was a high energy talent show this time with dances both solo and group, western and Bollywood. The Kids classes continued with good energy, without any drop outs. Also we were happy to observe that compared to last May our guest record this year shows a significant increase. The Meenakshi Ashram is escalating!

During mid-May the heat returned! Regardless, the Kids classes and Yoga vacation courses continued, uninterrupted. It was a good coincidence that a video ‘In the Name of Peace’ and the reading on Peace mission from ‘The Yogi’ almost paralleled that enabled the guests to better relate to the greater goal of Swami Vishnu in attaining global peace through Yoga. Swamiji’s personal information on the Planet Earth Passport was received as a thought provoking humour. As per the guest requests, who were curious to taste a true yogic diet, we served a typical low salt, less oil and zero spice brunch that included kichadi, a good portion of veggies and fruits and also a fibrous flat red rice payasam cooked in coconut milk sweetened with jaggery and banana, after deleting the most favorite papadam from the menu. It was a visible experience for the guests to understand the dietary discipline practiced in classical era of Yoga, plus, the role of proper diet, emphasized by Swamiji in his 5 points for the practitioners of modern times. We welcomed Sivananda staff Catherine and Ambika, who arrived for a brief stay from Neyyar Dam. A review meeting with Ravi Sri was organized to follow up the proposed plans on landscaping and agriculture. As underlined, core attention was given on propagation of Bougainvilleas for which the preparatory stem cuttings became the chief area of focus keeping the gardener and staff busy. The target figure of five thousand bags of soil, a thousand of them were already packed. Hopefully by the onset of high season the entire stretch of pathway will be beautifully bordered by these colorful flowers. A talent night consisted of a Sattva-Rajas combo. Sweet songs about God backed by melodious Guitar strings; Kerala soil’s folk music; dumsharads and dances – a complete package it was! We bid adieu to our Canadian karma yogi, Damodhara, who flew to Sri Lanka for visa renewal. Om Shanti. Om shanti. All are well and conveying Pranams. OM.

www.sivananda.org/madurai

Om Namah Sivaya! In early May Srinivasan returned from his trip to North India where he participated in the opening of several temples. Spring arrived and the weather was delightful. Staff were all busy outside working on cleaning the ponds, planting vegetables, pruning trees and maintaining the grounds. We had a mandala painting workshop with Mavis Gewant, a student of the late Harish Johari, brings his inspiration to the workshops. Mahadev Chaitanya went into New York City to teach an advanced asana class at the Centre one Sunday. We had many new karma yogis joining us, gearing up for the start of the season.

During mid-May Heather Principe was here for a week for the annual Vision Quest. She offered a sweat lodge and Satsang for the staff while the Ashram was still relatively quiet. The Ashram became busier as we prepared for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. There was a steady stream of guests for the holiday. Jorge Alfano, Jeff Dean, and Paloma Devi joined us for the Sacred Sounds weekend program. The musicians gave mid-day workshops and a beautiful concert on the Saturday night. Additional workshops were offered on the Sunday for guests and staff. At the Sunday night Satsang, Jorge Alfano played meditative flute music for a unique meditation session. The Prison Project team continued, visiting the prison twice weekly for Satsang and asana class. Staff kept busy with the gardens and maintenance on the grounds. Staff are all well, strong in their Sadhana and send their pranams.

Om Namah Sivaya! In early May, following the inauguration on the auspicious day of Buddha Purnima, the Teachers Training Course started with a Ganapathi Homa, performed by Swami Vasishtananada, at the Krishna Temple Platform. Offerings were made to Ganesha, the Gurus, and Nine Planets in a very beautiful and traditional ceremony. The students were introduced to the Gurus, Hatha Yoga, Kirtan, Meditation, Bhagavad Gita, and Philosophy. The Ayurvedic Massage Rejuvenation Retreat weekend and Ayurvedic practitioner, Ambika, gave a talk introducing the TTC and yoga vacation guests to Ayurveda and body constitutions. We welcomed 12 students for the 5 day Beginners Level 1 course. Swami Vasishtananda led a Puja to the Divine Mother in honor of Mothers’ Day. We said good-bye to Chandrika. She has served as assistant to Swami Sitaramananda and as staff in Vietnam. She left to attend to family affairs. We wished her well and look forward to her return.

During mid-May the week three of TTC was challenging, yet very fulfilling for the students. We took an early morning walk to Siva Temple one morning where Swami Vasishtananda did a Puja. We had a talk on Japa from Swami Sitaramananda. We offered mantra initiation with just about all the students getting initiated into mantra and receiving their spiritual names. The anatomy and physiology classes began with Swami Jnaneswariananda and were very much appreciated by the students. We had many guests for the Memorial Day long weekend. Special guests included Bidyut Bose, of Niroga Institute, who talked about bring yoga into schools and communities. We had a Bharatanatyam dance performance, by Anuradha. Dr. Marc Halpern (Dr. Siva) also gave an inspirational talk to the students. Swami Kashi made a 4 day visit to the Ashram and gave a number of talks to the students and guests focusing on the yoga scriptures and reading from the Upanishads. Projects continued around the Ashram as a new addition was being built at Samadhi Estates and the reflagging of Peace Miracle Labyrinth. On Friday we celebrated the anniversary of long-term staff: Hara Mahadeva (8 years), Sundaram (4 years), Lilamayi, Karunadevi, Radha Krishna Das, and Govinda Das (all 3 years). We celebrated on the TTC day off with an extraordinary Puja at the Durga temple, led by Swami Vasihstananda, for the meritorious years of service and to get the blessings from the Gurus for their continued Sadhana. This was followed by a Vietnamese spring roll and pho soup party at Samadhi Estates. We were also happy to welcome Shankari Chaitanya and Mahadeva from San Fransisco Centre for a short visit to the Ashram. We all felt the Guru’s blessings. Om Namah Sivaya to all blessed selves from the Yoga Farm.

http://www.sivananda.org/farm

Om Namo Narayanaya, Blessed Selves. In early May we graduated the April TTC and ATTC students and inaugurated a new class of students for May TTC. The lectures opened with thought provoking talks from John Douillard, presenting an interesting mix of spiritual and scientific information that really made us think about the way we view food, our digestion, and how our mind affects our general well being. Dr Steven Sinatra spoke on health and the heart, which included an interview with a gentlemen who had had a near death experience and brought back many messages on optimal health. The rain gave way to long, sunny days which guests, students and karma yogis alike were pleased about, particularly those in tents.

Mid-May heralded the start of the Consciousness, Self Consciousness and Compassion Symposium. We heard both the scientific and spiritual perspectives on what compassion is, how we measure and identify it, the depths of consciousness that exist within the human mind and how to understand the effect of self-awareness on our own development, both evolutionary and spiritually. Stephen Kaplan (Religious Studies professor and Hinduism specialist) round up moderated a panel discussion of all professors – Francisca Cho (Buddhism professor); Michael Spezio (neuroscience and psychology professor) and Daniel Drubach (neurology, psychiatry and neuro rehabilitation specialist). Mr Drubach also wowed the crowd with an expertly played classical guitar concert of both original and folk compositions, accompanied by our very own Iswara on violin. The inspiration continued for guests, staff and TTC students alike, with distinguished Sri Swami Medhananda Puri shedding light on select teachings from Advaita Vedanta. The Ashram felt truly blessed by yet another week of leading experts discussing with passion and profound knowledge their respective fields. Om Shanti from all the staff in Nassau.

http://www.sivananda.org/nassau

Om Namah Sivaya. The Retreat House re-opened on the 5th of May after 3 week closing period. After the reopening the TTC and ATTC courses began in great harmony and the priest Shree Krishna performed a Ganesha Puja to remove obstacles and for the upliftment of the energy. We had a long holy-day weekend for which around 60 guests came. Swami Sivadasananda gave insightful lectures on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Swami Narayanananda arrived from Munich and took great care of the 13 yoga teachers attending the further training on Yoga & Anatomy. He also taught guest workshops which all appreciated. The guests left happily after this intense and elevating weekend. The weather allowed us to enjoy some of the asana classes on the wooden platform. OM.

http://www.sivananda.org/tyrol

Om Namah Sivaya. The Ashram reopened on 8 May after a very inspiring ’Staff Refresher Course’ with Swami Durgananda, Swami Sivadasananda and Swami Kailasananda, all the European swamis and most of the staff from the European Centres. It was a wonderful time of gathering, collective Sadhana, intense learning, and much joy and sharing. Immediately after the course, 68 guests arrived for our long weekend programme on “Mind – its mysteries and control”. We also had a teachers’ weekend on how to teach meditation and mantra-chanting to beginners, which was given by Swami Kailasananda. The ‘Meditation Experience’ certificate Course for a week was taught by Suddha, who specially came from Paris. Swami Jyotirmayananda stayed for an extra week and she was a great help in putting the Ashram back into shape and help prepare for the TTC. After having all the rooms and tents ready, we welcomed 37 students for the first TTC of the year. As is the custom, we started with the pilgrimage through the Ashram visiting all the shrines and chanting the peace mantra all the time. The priests performed a very inspiring Ganesha Homa on the first teaching day of the course. Dr. Kamlesh arrived for his program on Ayurveda. OM.

http://www.sivananda.org/orleans